To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many hectares of greenbelt land there were in North Yorkshire in each year since 1997. (247614)

The area of Green Belt land in North Yorkshire for each year for which data is available is presented in the following table.

The first robust estimates of the area of Green Belt land at local authority level were for 1997. In 2003 it was decided to collate Green Belt estimates on an annual basis to monitor the department’s Spending Review 2004 Public Service Agreement 6 indicator. However, figures were not published for 2005 due to the extensive quality assurance necessary in that year.